Visitor Information

For information before you go, contact the Italian Government Tourist Board (www.enit.it and www.italiantourism.com). Another helpful website is www.initaly.com.

In the United States -- 630 Fifth Ave., Suite 1565, New York, NY 10111 (tel. 212/245-4822; fax 212/586-9249); 500 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2240, Chicago, IL 60611 (tel. 312/644-0996; fax 312/644-3019); and 12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Los Angeles, CA 90025 (tel. 310/820-1898; fax 310/820-6357).

In Canada -- 175 Bloor St. E., South Tower, Suite 907, Toronto, ON M4W 3R8 (tel. 416/925-4882; fax 416/925-4799).

In the United Kingdom -- 1 Princes St., London W1R 8AY (tel. 020/7408-1254).

You can also write directly (in English or Italian) to the provincial or local tourist boards of the areas you plan to visit. Provincial tourist boards (Ente Provinciale per il Turismo) operate in the principal towns of the provinces. Local tourist boards (Azienda Autonoma di Soggiorno e Turismo) operate in all places of tourist interest; you can get a list from the Italian Government Tourist Board.

Telephones

To call Italy from the United States, dial the international prefix, 011; then Italy's country code, 39; and then the city code (for example, 06 for Rome and 055 for Florence), which is now built into every number. Then dial the actual phone number.

A local phone call in Italy costs around .10€ (15¢/5p). Public phones accept coins, precharged phone cards (scheda or carta telefonica), or both. You can buy a carta telefonica at any tabacchi (tobacconists; look for a white T on a brown background) in increments of 5€ ($6.50/£3.35), 10€ ($13/£6.70), and 20€ ($26/£13). To make a call, pick up the receiver and insert .10€ (15¢/5p) or your card (break off the corner first). Most phones have a digital display to tell you how much money you inserted (or how much is left). Dial the number, and don't forget to take the card with you.

To call from one city code to another, dial the city code, complete with initial 0, and then dial the number. (Numbers in Italy range from four to eight digits. Even when you're calling within the same city, you must dial that city's area code -- including the zero. A Roman calling another Rome number must dial 06 before the local number.)

To dial direct internationally, dial 00 and then the country code, the area code, and the number. Country codes are as follows: the United States and Canada, 1; the United Kingdom, 44; Ireland, 353; Australia, 61; New Zealand, 64. Make international calls from a public phone, if possible, because hotels charge inflated rates for direct dial -- but bring plenty of schede (change). A reduced rate is applied from 11pm to 8am on Monday through Saturday and all day Sunday. Direct-dial calls from the United States to Italy are much cheaper, so arrange for whomever to call you at your hotel.

Italy has recently introduced a series of international phone cards (scheda telefonica internazionale) for calling overseas. They come in increments of 50, 100, 200, and 400 unita (units), and they're available at tabacchi and bars. Each unita is worth .15€ (20¢/10p) of phone time; it costs 5 unita (.65€/85¢/45p) per minute to call within Europe or to the United States or Canada, and 12 unita (1.55€/$2.02/£1.05) per minute to call Australia or New Zealand. You don't insert this card into the phone; merely dial tel. 1740 and then *2 (star 2) for instructions in English, when prompted.

To call the free national telephone information (in Italian) in Italy, dial tel. 12. International information is available at tel. 176 but costs .60€ (80¢/40p) a shot.

To make collect or calling-card calls, drop in .10€ (15¢/5p) or insert your card and dial one of the numbers here; an American operator will come on to assist you (because Italy has yet to discover the joys of the touch-tone phone). The following calling-card numbers work all over Italy: AT&T tel. 172-1011, MCI tel. 172-1022, and Sprint tel. 172-1877. To make collect calls to a country besides the United States, dial tel. 170 (.50€/65¢/35p), and practice your Italian counting in order to relay the number to the Italian operator. Tell him or her that you want it a carico del destinatario (charged to the destination, or collect).

Because you can't count on all Italian phones having touch-tone service, you might not be able to access your voicemail or answering machine from Italy.